Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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The Tang (唐) dynasty (618 – 907 C.E.), and to a lesser extent the Sui (隋) dynasty (589 – 617 C.E.) that directly preceded it, is often considered to be China’s premier ‘Golden Age’, the height of...Show moreThe Tang (唐) dynasty (618 – 907 C.E.), and to a lesser extent the Sui (隋) dynasty (589 – 617 C.E.) that directly preceded it, is often considered to be China’s premier ‘Golden Age’, the height of its cultural expression and the peak of its international trade. By contrast, the preceding period of disunity, often called the Six Dynasties period (六朝) (220 – 589 C.E.), stands out as a time of great chaos, uncertainty, and isolation in the minds of many both today and at the time of the Tang. A clear schism thus exists in our image of China in the first millennium C.E.. Yet this image comes to us mainly from written sources both ancient and modern, and is rarely independently analysed based on the archaeological remains of the periods. The aim of this thesis is to place archaeological material from China, which played a role in the ancient Silk Road trade network during the first millennium C.E., on a level with the historical sources, to find where they may coincide with or contradict each other, thus enriching our understanding of China’s role in the world of the first millennium C.E.. In order to do so, the thesis poses the question whether this schism of China’s active participation in international trade between the Six Dynasties and Tang periods can be traced in the archaeological evidence of trade from these periods, by studying a selection of Chinese archaeological material dating to the first millennium C.E. and analysing it through the lens of a world-systems and globalisation theoretical framework. The material used comes from Paul Ruitenbeek Art Gallery in Amsterdam, as well as several museum collections and academic and non-academic publications, as this is a topic not widely explored in academia. The Case Studies are organised into the themes of ‘Trade and travel represented’, ‘Exported items: luxury and practicality’, ‘Currency on the Silk Roads’, and ‘Influential style and beauty’. Ultimately, based on the combination of historical context, previous research, the case studies, and the theoretical framework, the conclusion is reached that while significant changes can be observed in China’s political situation and its involvement within the Silk Road trade network throughout the first millennium C.E., and these developments are at times closely influenced by each other, they are not intrinsically linked, as it was in fact the adaptability of the network and its various players that allowed the network to persist over such a long 128 period of time. Further research is needed to gain a true understanding of China’s role in the Silk Road trade network during the first millennium C.E..Show less
Following the 'opening' of China after the Opium Wars, the European political and economic presence in the Middle Kingdom surged. An important part of this presence concerned the significant...Show moreFollowing the 'opening' of China after the Opium Wars, the European political and economic presence in the Middle Kingdom surged. An important part of this presence concerned the significant increase in Western religious mission orders within China. In this thesis, these often-overlooked missionaries are put central by examining their interactions with the local Chinese social and political environment. By following the actions and ideas of the Belgium Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, shortly known as the order of Scheut, this research asks new and insightful questions concerning the policies employed by the missionaries and their eventual outcome. By tracing the order’s development in the vicariates of Outer-Mongolia and Gansu, in terms of their approach towards the mission and the subsequently ensuing conflict, it shows how seemingly minor changes in attitude can create two widely different scenario’s and contradicts the perception of missionaries as mere agents of Western expansion. Missionaries, as agents of dialogue, managed to adapt their actions based on the environment they encountered and through their adaption, influenced the manner in which their local environment perceived them in the context of China’s turbulent nineteenth century.Show less
Research master thesis | African Studies (research) (MA)
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The thesis argues to give special attention to Chinese contractors with a provincial background (State-owned enterprise established at the provincial level) and their activities in African...Show moreThe thesis argues to give special attention to Chinese contractors with a provincial background (State-owned enterprise established at the provincial level) and their activities in African countries. Chinese actors who have an earlier entrance to the African market experience a ‘disembedding’ process as other forms of Chinese capital flow in. In face of intensified intra-China competition, provincial SOEs struggle to secure a position in the local market. This thesis explores how Chinese camps navigate changing and unfamiliar environment by cultivating connections with Senegalese actors and local communities. The analysis is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Touba, Matam, Thiès, Thienaba and Dakar. The tracking strategy is a combination of go-along, participant observation and small-talks. The conceptual tool of this thesis, based on the concepts of ‘scale’ (Xiang 2013), ‘navigation’(Vigh, 2006, 2009) and ‘connection’ (Kaag 2012), attempts to understand how flows at one scale can influence or disrupt another scale; and on the local level, how actors experience these disruptions and move through the social forces created in the momentum as socially immediate and socially imagined; and how, through connection and connecting, they find a temporary anchor. This thesis looks at how Chinese contractors navigate the ambiguity of trust and potentiality of obligation to make work and social life possible. It also looks at how Chinese navigate the Chinese guanxi practice and Senegalese system reciprocity to cultivate stable interpersonal relations with significant local actors, such as the Mbacke marabouts in Touba. Keywords: Senegal; China; social navigation; reciprocity; religion; infrastructure; provinceShow less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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The thesis analyses grassroots-government interactions in the formation and the development of the dagong 打工 poetry scene of Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. Dagong poetry is a wide...Show moreThe thesis analyses grassroots-government interactions in the formation and the development of the dagong 打工 poetry scene of Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. Dagong poetry is a wide and eclectic literary genre, written by Chinese rural migrant workers, often referred to as Chinese subalterns, who move to the cities to make a living, because of a lack of economic opportunities in the countryside. I use Bourdieu’s theory of the literary field to survey three main types of agents involved the dagong poetry dynamic and its discourse: (1) grassroots activists, (2) party-state-affiliated cultural policy institutions, and (3) intermediaries, meaning various individuals who advance the interactions of (1) and (2), and may be considered as belonging to both groups. By surveying textual sources, including literary journals, websites and public WeChat accounts, and through qualitative interviews with poets, critics, literary scholars and other agents involved in dagong poetry discourse, I provide in depth case studies of some of most important dagong poetry-related persons and organizations in the Delta region dagong poets’ community. The thesis shows that party-state cultural policy institutions play a significant role in formation and development of a literary community that began as a grassroots movement. Their far reaching influence is present in many aspects and is mainly executed through negotiation with grassroots groups, in which a crucial role is played by top-down and bottom-up intermediaries that are very helpful for attracting financial, political and also discursive support for the dagong poets’ community, but also ensure that dagong poetry discourse remains controlled and in line with government’s cultural policy.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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It is simply undeniable that Jean-Jacques Rousseau played his vital part inspiring the world to modernisation, including China. There is also no gainsaying the fact that he had countless ...Show moreIt is simply undeniable that Jean-Jacques Rousseau played his vital part inspiring the world to modernisation, including China. There is also no gainsaying the fact that he had countless ‘apprentices’ in late Qing China, and apparently many Chinese intellectual elites during that period thought so as well. In the field of literature, Émile, ou de l'éducation inspired Chinese intellectual circle, especially realms of literature and publication, and stirred up a trend of ‘novel of education’. In addition, Rousseau’s writings and his image frequently appeared in the new-styled prints in late Qing China. Yet if we make a general survey of Chinese history evolving towards the point of modernisation and afterwards, the course of history in China was essentially advancing forward in its own way. All in all, I will claim that the interpretation, misinterpretation and internalisation of Rousseau’s thoughts in China was a highly complex progress. The new community of modern intellectuals in late Qing China took and adapted what they needed from Rousseau without pursuing Rousseau’s original intention, and such tendency and the transformation of the men of knowledge themselves were underlain by both the macro framework of Chinese society and the internal development within Chinese society that had started several centuries before the Western impact.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This paper seeks to unpick what the term Pax Mongolica actually means and to decide whether or not it is a suitable term to be used in a historical sense. A brief look at the historiographical...Show moreThis paper seeks to unpick what the term Pax Mongolica actually means and to decide whether or not it is a suitable term to be used in a historical sense. A brief look at the historiographical context for this term and how the Mongols' public image has begun to change precede an analysis of sources from across the Mongol world in order to try to find out what Mongol rule meant to contemporaries. Tackling this issue via Persian, European, and non-Muslim sources from Armenia, Georgia and Iraq helps to provide a balanced view of the Mongols across time and space. Each chapter looks at a collection of sources for a picture of initial Mongol destruction to see how far territories under their control could have recovered, before moving on to address the burdens and benefits of Mongol rule for those they conquered. The chapters then end with a quick look at travel and trade (the pillars which Pax Mongolica is built on) across various regions and time periods. An analysis of each set of sources follows per chapter, with potted source studies to begin with for a frame of reference. Finally, a broader overview determining the existence or extent of Pax Mongolica is provided in the conclusion with some suggestions with how to move forward in the historical discourse.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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The Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province is often seen as the success story of China’s reform policies that were initiated by Hua Guofeng in the late 1970s, and popularised by Deng...Show moreThe Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province is often seen as the success story of China’s reform policies that were initiated by Hua Guofeng in the late 1970s, and popularised by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. Shenzhen – China’s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) – is also representative of the ideal of a new, modernized, and economically strong China. The communist ideals of the Maoist era have long been pushed aside to make way for newer ideologies such as ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’, or more recently, Xi Jinping’s ‘Chinese Dream’. These shifts in ideology have had a significant influence on the identity that the Chinese state wishes to convey to its citizens and beyond. This paper examines how national and regional identities and their subsequent narratives interact or conflict in the permanent exhibition of Shenzhen museum. Furthermore, I will look at how similar exhibition practices (Shenzhen Museum and the National Museum of China) are used to convey a different message. Shenzhen Museum plays an important part in communicating the city’s identity and its position in China as a model city both to the local population and beyond. Shenzhen illustrates that the way we perceive nationalism has to change in an ever-globalising world, where large cities within a nation can play as large a role in defining the nation as the country at large.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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In this thesis I conduct discourse analysis on the traditional values of talent show The Voice of China (TVoC). Whereas former talent shows have been suspended because of ‘low moral standards and...Show moreIn this thesis I conduct discourse analysis on the traditional values of talent show The Voice of China (TVoC). Whereas former talent shows have been suspended because of ‘low moral standards and vulgar content’, TVoC already finished its third season in 2014. In this thesis I show that traditional Chinese values can intertwine perfectly with the Western values of TVoC, and that the discourse of harmony is reinforced multiple times in the end. The traditional values and the concept of harmony are in line with what the Chinese government propagates. Taking this and the restrictions on former talent shows into account I therefore argue that self-censorship of TVoC due to soft-power of the government has been the case in talent show TVoC.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
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2019-08-29T00:00:00Z
The current study investigated and compared the development of Chinese girls adopted from institutional care, foster care, or from a mixture of both types of care to the Netherlands. The sample...Show moreThe current study investigated and compared the development of Chinese girls adopted from institutional care, foster care, or from a mixture of both types of care to the Netherlands. The sample consisted of 1106 girls who were between 4 and 18 years of age (mean age 7 years). Parents completed several questionnaires addressing all kinds of subjects related to the health and development of the adopted children. Results revealed that most girls adopted from China were healthy and experienced few developmental delays. Most girls scored high on individual strengths and competencies as well and they had satisfying relationships with their adoptive parents. Part of the adoptees showed some indiscriminate friendliness. A comparison of the care groups revealed that girls adopted from foster care were in an advantage with regard to their general health and developmental status. Mean differences between the groups, however, were small. Neither a mediating effect of children’s self-regulatory abilities, nor a moderating role of either age at adoption or the parent-child relationship could be established. Some direct effects, however, were found. Children adopted before their first birthday and children who had a very good relationship with their parents showed most developmental gains. Overall, this study provides information regarding the adjustment and development of female children adopted from various types of care in China that might be useful to adoptive parents and a range of professionals and organizations working with international adoptees.Show less
Research master thesis | Political Science and Public Administration (research) (MSc)
open access
2017-01-01T00:00:00Z
Why do democracies not go to war with other democracies? The idea that the internalized liberal-democratic norms of peaceful conflict resolution within a democratic society are responsible for the...Show moreWhy do democracies not go to war with other democracies? The idea that the internalized liberal-democratic norms of peaceful conflict resolution within a democratic society are responsible for the democratic peace, also referred to as the normative explanation, remains subject to a particular lack of empirical academic attention. The few studies into the normative explanation have not tested what should be tested: whether liberal democratic norms indeed affect the behavior of democratic citizens in comparison to the behavior of nondemocratic citizens. This research performs an improved empirical test and studies (1) whether liberal norms exist in a democracy in comparison to a non-democracy and (2) whether these norms have an effect on the individuals of these societies concerning the wish to use force in International Relations. An experimental design showed that there was no significant difference between a group of Dutch students and a group of Chinese students when it comes to the use of force in IR. A marginal effect of the regime type for the democratic citizens was found. Remarkably, in a comparison with the autocratic experimental group, these democratic citizens turned out not to be specifically more peaceful towards other democracies, but rather more war-prone towards autocracies. The overall conclusion of this study is that for both experimental groups the perception of threat was the main indicator for a decision to attack. This research argues that, in contrast with earlier research, there is no support to the claim that the normative explanation can explain the empirically found peace between democracies.Show less
